1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for controlling at least part of progress of a video game played on each of a plurality of player terminals, which a plurality of players respectively operate, via a communication network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, various kinds of so-called network delivery type games are presented. Such a network delivery type game is supplied to a mobile communication terminal such as cellular phone terminal via a communication network such as the Internet. In such a network delivery type game, there are various games such as a role playing game as the video game (RPG; that is, a game in which a player plays a role of a character in a world of the game, and accomplishes a predetermined object while enjoying a process that the character grows through various experiences), for example.
Further, heretofore, there is a game in which positional information is used for control of progress of the game when the game is provided to a mobile communication terminal (for example, see Japanese Patent No. 3,767,741 and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-61317).
Japanese Patent No. 3,767,741 discloses an identification number of a neighboring base station, which is to obtained when a mobile communication terminal such as a cellular phone terminal and a personal handyphone system (PHS) makes a communication with a server, is used not only for communication but also progress of a game when the game is played in the mobile communication terminal. More specifically, depending on which base station a player is located within the range of, an obtainable item, an entering character and/or a scenario to be selected are differentiated in the game. Thus, it is possible to differentiate game contents depending on a location to play the game even in the same game. This makes it possible to diversify the game contents.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-61317 discloses a game system for finding a “treasure” hidden in advance by a game sponsor in which positional information of a player obtained by means of measurement using a global positioning system (GPS) is used as data for a game.
In the conventional technique as described in Japanese Patent No. 3,767,741, the contents of the game is associated with a player's own position, by which the game contents are allowed to be diversified. However, in this technique, multiple kinds of characters, items and patterns of scenarios are prepared in advance, and a specific character, an item and a pattern of a scenario are merely selected in accordance with the positional information. Therefore, there has been a problem that diversification of the game contents has a limitation.
Further, in the conventional technique as described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-61317, there has been a problem that a workload for advance preparation of a video game becomes a great load because it is required to prepare a communication device for obtaining positional information of the “treasure”. In addition, development after discovery of the “treasure” is not prepared in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-61317 because the video game is terminated at the time when a player discovers the “treasure”. Thus, there has been a problem that diversification of the game contents has a limitation.